Red Wine, Pasta, and Easy Dinner Conversation
by LightCueGo
Summary: After Castiel walks into a blind date that turns out to not be so blind after all, he hopes that the don't won't suck as much as he originally assumed it would.


Cas felt a smile stretch across his face. "Hello, Dean."

"Heya, Cas," Dean replied with an easy smile on his face.

Castiel was relieved to see Dean sitting in the booth, hoping that the easy banter they'd exchanged earlier in the bar was not going to magically disappear now that they were on a date. Then, Cas panicked. _What if Dean isn't happy to see me? What if he didn't like me as much as I liked him?_

Cas literally _felt_ his face droop from a happy smile to a worried brow furrow. He ducked his head, hoping Dean hadn't seen, and lowered himself into the seat across from Dean. But when Castiel looked back up, Dean was still smiling radiantly at him. Cas's panic dissolved. He could do this. He could totally do this.

"Funny seeing you here, Dean," Cas joked with a small smile on his face.

"I could say the same thing to you, Cas," Dean grinned in return.

"May I get you gentlemen a drink?" a waiter asked as he approached their table, his hands clasped neatly behind his back.

"Sure thing. Let me get a glass of your house red," Dean replied easily, still smiling as Cas.

Cas smiled back and shot a glance to the waiter. "I'll have the same."

As the waiter walked away, Dean cocked his head to the side and gently shook his head, never breaking his smile.

Cas huffed a small laugh and asked, "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Dean chuckled. "It's just, when I left the bar earlier I was thinking that I didn't want to come on this date tonight because I wanted to ask you for one instead. And turns out you were my date all along. And here I was thinking I'd most likely never see you again."

Cas felt heat rush to his face, and he ducked his head down once again, a small smile stretching his lips upward.

"Well," Cas replied shyly as he lifted his eyes to meet Dean's, his stomach turning circles, "here I am."

Dean never broke eye contact with Castiel. "Here you are."

The two eventually got their wine, ordered a plate of pasta apiece, and ever shut their mouths. Castiel didn't understand how he could just talk to Dean without any anxiety; he could barely talk to his own sister the way he could converse with Dean. Castiel was very used to sitting awkwardly staring at those around him. He could never think of anything to say. But he didn't have that problem with Dean.

"So Anna said you guys are classmates. Are you a math major too?" Castiel asked.

"Nah, I'm studying mechanical engineering," Dean replied as he leaned a little further across the table. "So I take a lot of math classes, but that's definitely not my main thing. Anna said you're a music major?"

"Yes, I was," Castiel answered. "I graduated last May. Now I work with a recording studio downtown. I want to produce one day."

"Dude, that's so cool. Do you get to like, meet the artists and stuff?"

"Occasionally," Cas answered with a grin. "But it's usually just me standing around doing stuff for the other employees, so I never really talk to them all that much. Although, I did once have a nice conversation about cartoons with Robert Plant. Apparently, he's quite good friends with the owner of the studio."

"_Dude,_" Dean said with wide eyes, "you met the lead singer of _Zep?_ God, I want your job."

Castiel laughed at Dean's evident awe.

"What's his favorite cartoon?" Dean asked.

"He very much enjoys _Looney Tunes_. Apparently, they are just too "classic" to not love," Castiel replied.

"And what about you?" Dean asked with humor dancing in his eyes.

"I told him that while _Looney Tunes_ are indeed enjoyable, I prefer _Scooby Doo _myself, if we're talking classics."

"Totally on your side, man. Scooby rocks."

Dean was likewise flabbergasted by the way the date was going. When Anna said that her brother was a music major with a penchant for tattoos, Dean pictured a guy that looked like he never slept, with eyeliner and ink across his neck. He never expected the quiet, reserved man in a vest and tie in front of him.

Castiel asked Dean to tell him more about Sam, and he knew he'd done something majorly right. The way that Dean's face lit up when he talked about his brother, Cas could tell that there was nothing in the world more important to him. Dean told Castiel about how he raised Sam practically his whole life, how he'd made sure that Sam made it through college, made sure he'd had enough money to get by. Cas, however, couldn't help but ask.

"Why did you raise Sam by yourself? It doesn't sound like you can be much older than he if he is already in law school."

"I'm not," Dean replied, shifting in his seat. "Only about four years. But uh, our mom died when he was a baby. House fire. We never really figured out what happened, but my dad tried to save her while I carried Sammy outside. He couldn't get to her though, so… after that it was just the three of us. Dad was pretty bad for a while. Didn't go back to work for almost a year after Mom died, so I looked out for Sammy as best as I could, and our Uncle Bobby helped out a lot. But after a while, Dad shaped up, went back to his job—he worked at Uncle Bobby's auto shop—but he was never really the same, you know? After another couple years there, he just got so antsy that he couldn't stay in the same place anymore. So he started travelling around a lot, taking odd jobs, trying to make more money for me and Sam. I think I was seven years old the first time he left us home alone. He'd send the money he made back to us, make sure I had enough to buy food for the two of us, any new clothes or anything that Sam needed. And I just got used to it, you know? By the time I was ten or eleven, it wasn't unusual for us to spend as long as a couple weeks home alone. I made sure Sammy was fed, went to school, did his homework, then Dad would come back for a day or two before heading off to his next job. Older I got, longer he'd stay away at a time, sometimes as long as a month or so. I started working on cars at Bobby's when I was fourteen, make some extra cash to make sure I could Sam everything he needed, new clothes and stuff for school. Plus, the nerd was already talking about college by the time he was ten, so I knew we'd need to start saving up for that, too. So I put what I could aside for college money for him, and just kept doing it until he hit eighteen. He always bugged me about going to college after I graduated high school, but I just couldn't, you know? I wanted to, but…with the money we had, it was either him or me, so it had to be him. No way I was going to let him not go to college."

"But then, his senior year at Stanford, dad was on a job in Salt Lake City. Got in a pretty bad wreck, some old lady fell asleep at the wheel or something. He was in the hospital for a few days out there, but he didn't make it. Turns out he'd taken out a life insurance policy a few years back, in case anything ever happened, and…something happened. After we got the money from that, Sam pretty much demanded that I finally go to school. Don't think he would have taken no for an answer. So here I am."

Cas was stunned. He had two younger siblings and he couldn't imagine raising any of them; he couldn't imagine any of his three older siblings raising him, either. "You are a very good brother, Dean."

Dean let out a small laugh and looked down at the table, wine glass in head. It took him a moment to respond. "I had to be," Dean murmured, not looking up.

Dean sat silently for another short moment before he asked Cas about his own family.

"So you said earlier at the bar that you have five siblings? Dude, that's a lot. I've only ever met Anna, what's everyone else like?" Dean asked.

"Well, Gabriel," Castiel began, "is the world's biggest troublemaker. Seriously, he's been this major trickster since before he even learned to walk. He's younger than both me and Anna, he's a freshman at UCLA this year. And then of course, you know Anna. She's a year and a half younger than me, math major, brainiac of the family. Probably my best friend, too. And then I have three older brothers—Michael, Raphael, and Lucifer. I don't talk to them much anymore."

"_Lucifer_?" Dean asked, eyes wide with surprise, voice incredulous.

Cas smiled a little. "Yes, Lucifer. We are all named after angels. Anna's real name is actually Anael, but she would probably kill you if you tried to call her that."

"Hmm. So why don't you talk to the others anymore?"

"Oh. Uhm. My mother doesn't really…approve of my "lifestyle," Cas answered, complete with air quotes. "When I came out to her beginning of freshman year of college, she made it pretty clear that I wasn't welcome around the house anymore. She pretty much cut me off. Only reason I could finish college was because I was a trust fund baby. I've only seen her once since. We tried to do family Christmas my sophomore year, but I was only at the house for about four hours before she decided she couldn't be around me and kicked me out again.

"Michael and Raphael didn't really take sides, just kind of stood by and let her do what she wanted. They didn't tell me I wasn't welcome with them anymore or anything, but things were never the same after she kicked me out. They didn't really want to be around me anymore since they're so loyal to Mom, but they obviously weren't going to say anything, so I did them a favor and just kind of stopped talking to them. Lucifer was great for a while, really supportive, helped me get my feet on the ground. Made sure I had a place to live and meals and all my books and supplies for college. He's the oldest, so he was already out of medical school and working in a hospital by then. But then he moved to D.C., so I haven't seen him in a while, almost a year now. He's so busy at the hospital there that he can't really take time off to visit. We just started talking less, and now it's unusual if we talk on the phone once a month."

"Wow," Dean said. "No offense, but your family kind of sounds like a bunch of dicks."

"Yeah," Cas laughed. "Most of them are. I mean, Mom and Raph and Michael absolutely are. Lucifer definitely is, just not in the same way. Gabriel is probably the biggest dick of them all, but he's so funny and _can_ be really sweet, so nobody really thinks he's that big of a dick after all. I think Anna's the only one of them all who isn't."

"Well, what about you Cas? Are you a dick?" Dean asked with a small smile on his face.

Cas huffed a small laugh. "I think I'd categorize myself somewhere between Anna and Lucifer on the dick scale. I'm definitely not a saint, but I don't think I've hit "abandon-my-own-child proportions yet."

Castiel, smile on his face, glanced down and realized that he'd eaten nearly an entire plate of lasagna without even noticing. Dean's plate was likewise almost empty. He then glanced at his watch.

"Whoa!" Cas exclaimed. "We've been here for almost three hours. I didn't even realize."

"Shit, really?" Dean responded. "There's no way it's been three hours. I didn't notice the time going by while I was talking to you," Dean said as a sly smile spread across his face.

"I suppose we should leave soon," Castiel said. "The restaurant will be closing shortly."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Dean replied as he started scooting out of the booth.

Castiel followed, slight disappointment pooling in his stomach as he trailed behind Dean. He definitely did not want to part ways with Dean without establishing that he wanted to see him again. _But what if he doesn't want to see me again? _Cas thought. Cas debated just giving Dean his number, leaving it up to him, or just ponying up and asking for a second date. He could deal with the rejection if Dean said no.

"Uh, Cas?"

Castiel's head shot up as he looked at Dean, and he noticed immediately that Dean seemed very uncomfortable. He was rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, and was not making eye contact with Castiel.

Crap, thought Castiel. Now he's trying to figure out how to let me down easy.

"It's okay, De—"

"I really want to see you again, Cas. Like, really a lot."

"Oh." Castiel was shocked; that's not what he was expecting. But boy, was he happy to hear it.

"I would love to see you again, Dean," Castiel answered, full grin on his face.

Dean smiled and pulled out his phone, handing it to Cas to enter his number. Castiel did the same for Dean. After exchanging numbers, the two made plans to meet for dinner on Friday of the next week at the same time.

Cas and Dean exited the restaurant, and the two turned to each other just beyond the door. Castiel shuffled his feet awkwardly for a moment, staring at the ground. He definitely wanted to kiss Dean, but he wasn't sure if he should go for it right now or not.

"Hey Cas," Dean said with an affectionate smile on his face. "I'd really like to kiss you right now."

Castiel blushed and ducked his head down for a moment before looking back up at Dean. "I'd really like it if you kissed me right now."

Dean smiled again as he took a small step closer to Cas. Castiel, as impatient as ever, grabbed the collar of Dean's jacket and closed the space between them with a single large step. He pulled Dean down by his collar, until there was barely an inch of space between them. Then, he gently closed his lips around Dean's, reveling in the spark that seemed to travel through his body at the first touch. Dean's hands rested lightly on Castiel's hips, and his thumbs rubbed small circles there as he pulled back from Cas.

"I'll see you next Friday, Castiel," Dean said with a smile, before pulling away completely and turning to head toward his car. Cas noted that it was the first time Dean had used his full name.

Castiel couldn't help but laugh a little at the fact that Dean turned around a couple of times to look back at Cas. He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened on the date if he hadn't met Dean first at the bar. The two probably wouldn't have talked so easily, at the very least. As Castiel watched Dean cross the last few steps to his shiny, black car, he could not help but be thankful for the furious case of nerves he'd been plagued with just hours ago.


End file.
